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On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Joseph P. McDonald manned the switchboard at Fort Shafter in Hawaii when he received the alarming message that radar had detected a large number of planes approaching from the north, heading fast for Oahu.
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Noah Ritter, 5, whose amusing interview on WNEP TV at the Wayne County Fair, Pa., that went viral on the internet poses with his Hot Wheels bike in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Tuesday August 5, 2014. He is being interviewed by major media outlets.Mark MoranPAWIC103

Noah Ritter, 5, whose amusing interview on WNEP TV at the Wayne County Fair, Pa., that went viral on the internet poses with his Hot Wheels bike in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Tuesday August 5, 2014. He is being interviewed by major media outlets.
Mark Moran
PAWIC104

On Friday, Noah was interviewed at the Wayne County Fair by ABC affiliate WNEP. During the interview, 5-year-old Noah told reporter Sofia Ojeda that “Apparently, I’ve never been on live television before.” It certainly won’t be his last time.

“Yeah, Jimmy Kimmel Live called. Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Noah said on Tuesday, practicing the phrase several times before getting it right. “God, this is never going to end. I’m going to be interviewed all night!”

“Every talk show called here looking for him,” he said, listing the names of television hosts such as Ellen DeGeneres and Conan O’Brien. Mr. Borowski never expected his grandson’s interview to go viral.

“I thought it was cute. He took the microphone and he started talking,” Mr. Borowski said of Noah’s first interview. “We really thought nothing about it. But over the weekend, it just blossomed.”

By Tuesday, the original WNEP video had received over 300,000 views and has been posted to websites Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post, where Noah is often referred to as the “Apparently Kid,” due to his overuse of the word “apparently.”

Noah explained that he says “apparently” to help gather his thoughts.

“I use that when I don’t know what to say. Apparently, I used it in my first sentence,” Noah said about his interview at the fair.

Mr. Borowski said he’s not sure where Noah first picked up the word, but admitted he hears “apparently” a lot around the house.

“He does say ‘apparently’ a lot, also ‘seriously.’ He’s got some big words that he uses all the time,” Mr. Borowski said. “When he has nothing else to say, he says ‘apparently.’”

Since graduating from pre-kindergarten, Noah has been staying with his grandfather in his Wilkes-Barre home for the summer. Mr. Borowski, 65, a semi-retired bridge carpenter, said he keeps Noah busy with trips to the movie theater and museums in Philadelphia, where he said Noah likes looking at dinosaur exhibits. During the school year, Noah lives with his mother, Meggin Borowski, in Pottstown. His father, Matthew Ritter, lives in Toms River, New Jersey.

“It’s been a hectic ride the last couple of days,” Mr. Borowski said about Noah’s sudden fame. “All his interviews went pretty good so far. After a while, he gets a little tired and cranky, but he’s doing good.”

During the interview, Noah slipped into tangents, revving the throttle of his motorcycle-themed bike and pointing at slight bruises on his left leg and arm.

“I got that from riding too fast on those tricky parts,” Noah said, gesturing toward North Pennsylvania Avenue. At one point, he picks a twig out of his hair and blames a nearby bush.

“I had this in my hair the whole time,” he said. “Stupid bush.” Later, he points over to men pulling equipment out of a van.

Noah will appear on the NBC morning show and ABC’s “Good Morning America” today.

Contact the reporter:

jheckman@citizensvoice.com

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